Stirring Vitality In Beethoven Recital

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31084, 13 June 1966, Page 14

Stirring Vitality In Beethoven Recital

The Prague String Quartet of the University of Canterbury continued its performances of the Beethoven Quartets in the University Hall last evening. Once again the technical skill, the stirring vitality, and the artistic insight and finesse of the performers delighted and inspired the large audience. The Quartet, Op. 18, No. 2, tn G major, began with merry and whimsicat glint, and proceeded through the first movement in urbane crossflow of good-humoured and well-informed conversation.

The never-failing resonance of the tone production kept everything very much alive. The adagio had an autumnal and mellow profusion and the contrasting allegro had the scatter of a cap-snatching breeze. The scherzo was vivacious and spiky; and just occasionally there were heard sounds whose quality may not have been quite as intended. Merry bustle and exuberance of spirit marked the playing of the finale, summing up the enjoyments offered by the eartier movements and adding to them immeasurably. The Quartet Op. 95 in F minor is a gloriously statisfyIng work, noble in character. It began with stress and tension, and this atmosphere was strengthened by furious sweeps of sound in unison. There was a calming towards the end of the first movement leading to the underlying serenity of the lovely Allegretto movement.

The members of the quartet showed complete understanding of all the principles of balance in the subtle colourings they gave to this movement. The scherzo flew off with fiery eloquence expressed with excellent control of vigorous dynamics, with peaceful moments in the contrasting trio sections. The last movement, through the stress of its writing, suggested the swaying of great trees in a high wind. It ended in brilliant exhilaration.

The programme ended with Op. 59, No. 2, in E minor which opened with passages of lovely sonorities at differing levels of expression building up expectancy. Long and beautifully graded crescendi and diminuendi sections were high points in the players’ astonishing skill in unanimity of balance. The many fleeting moods in the first movement were all

Stuck in a dirty war today we would do well to lower our self esteem . . . and see ourselves as hardly more noble and not much smarter than the British and French in their day.—Professor John Fairbank of Harvard University, addressing the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

vividly and convincingly expressed. The slow movement was deeply moving and was played with exquisite tone. It was music of idyllic contemplation with glorious strands of melodies weaving in intriguingly intricate patterns. Joy in nature was expressed in generous and light-hearted flow in the scherzo movement. The Rondo had a tingling effervescence and tore along like little freshets on the mountainside. A recital such as this made great demands on the players’ concentration, for there could be no letting up. However, the members of the Prague Quartet seemed just as fresh and debonair as when they started. —C.F.B.